District Administration - July/August 2012 - (Page 57)

ing on penmanship and teachers focusing on comprehension. “It is very important to build collaboration and a strong partnership between parents and teachers,” says Elias-Miranda. “Parents need to feel comfortable enough to ask questions, learn about the curriculum, and know how the school system operates. It’s also important that they have access to this information in their home language, as well.” Spotlight on ELLs For all its flaws, NCLB did raise the bar for ELLs and minority subgroups across the board. “ESEA certainly put a huge spotlight on ELLs, and there is definitely a formula now for tracking the outcomes of these students,” says Liz Eisner, education research analyst with the U.S. Department of Education and contributor to the Title III report between the DOE and ARI. Although progress has been made, there is still a long road ahead in terms of getting ELLs on target with their non-ELL peers and increasing data collection on this subgroup, particularly in the improvements of early childhood learning. “Half of the nation’s English learner students were in districts that didn’t meet [AYP] targets for two consecutive years,” says James Taylor, project director with ARI. “With the Common Core, more states will be approaching their content from a common set of standards and assessments. If Common Core standards are raising the level of challenge of standards, it seems like that underscores the importance of Title III and providing state English learner services.” Conveying this issue to policymakers remains a struggle. “The Common Core State Standards require a more sophisticated thinker,” says Ott. “We’re seeing a huge jump in terms of expectations. It’s going to be an even greater challenge if we have students that haven’t had those foundational experiences. I think there will be a big push politically to support early learning programs, but I’m not sure how it will fare economically in terms of where the dollars actually go.” With the population of ELLs growing exponentially each year, Ott says educators and legislators must look at this population as resources rather than as a challenge. “There is a resource and a value in that student’s native language,” Ott concludes. “How do we ensure they become proficient in English and still value the language they bring? [Legislators] speak about the importance of bilingual students and international jobs. We have students right here we can tap into, but we need to make sure they’re ready to learn and ready to rise to those challenges.” DA Marion Herbert is associate editor. www.DistrictAdministration.com July/August 2012 57 http://www.voyagerlearning.com/info/commoncore http://www.voyagerlearning.com http://www.voyagerlearning.com/info/commoncore http://www.voyagerlearning.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July/August 2012

District Administration - July/August 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Research Center
Professional Opinion
Supervisor's Opinion
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Gaming Gains Respect
A Running Start for ELLs
Paul Vallas for Sale
Unsung Heroes
CIO News
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Virtual Schooling
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Product Focus
Problem Solution

District Administration - July/August 2012